Innovation Lead

RSPL Group; Gurugram District; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 3,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Be part of 0 to 1 brand evolution

Job summary

RSPL Group’s Hygiene Care Division seeks an Innovation Lead to drive end-to-end product development from idea to shelf. You will lead a team of Brand Managers, work with R&D, Supply Chain and Legal to launch new products, and defend business cases for scale-up.

The role requires hands-on formulation, packaging, consumer testing and stage-gate management, plus mentoring of junior marketers in a fast-moving consumer goods environment.

Qualifications

• Experience taking new products from idea to shelf in FMCG.
• Strong consumer insights and hands-on formulation exposure.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams through stage-gate.

Responsibilities

• Leads development of ideas into concepts for broad consumer appeal.
• Translates concepts into a full product range with R&D and Supply Chain.
• Manages pipeline and prioritization with senior stakeholders.

Skills

NPD

Brand development

Cross-functional leadership

Market research

Education

MBA in marketing

Bachelor's in pharmacy or cosmetic science

Job description

About the organization:

RSPL Group is more than 6,000 Cr+ diversified conglomerate, which is committed to value for money propositions & credited with several innovations over last 3 decades. The sagacity to weave its business around consumer needs has conferred RSPL Group with a distinct value and identity. Efficient capital structure, cutting edge technology, operational discipline and a widespread distribution network, have together attributed to enhance RSPL Group and enabled the organization to deliver value to consumers. It is a diversified group having product category in FMCG, Dairy Products, Hygiene Care, Foot wear, Real Estate, Renewable Energy.

• Segment 1 - S&D vertical: Ghari detergent and cake, Machine wash, Venus soap and Glori.
• Segment 2 - Namaste India Foods Pvt. Ltd- Full-fledged dairy products range: milk, ghee, curd, ice cream, butter, masala Chach, dairy whitener etc. Leayan Global Pvt. Ltd.- Leather shoes & apparels (Red Chief) and Sport shoes & apparels (Furo)
• Segment 3 - Hygiene Care vertical: Proease Sanitary Napkin, Xpert Utensil cleaning range (Bar/Scrubber/Liquid/sponges), Uniwash detergent powder (Mid premium detergent), Lovingle Baby diaper.

About Hygiene Care Division (Approx. 1350 cr)

HCD is into Hygiene, Utensil and Laundry care division. It has five manufacturing units in India and two in Bangladesh & One in Ethiopia. Product segments of RSPL ltd. for international markets are taken care by HCD division.

This job role is for RSPL HCD Division (Hygiene Care)

Innovation Lead - Marketing

The incumbent would be reporting to CMO - Craft.

This is a Team Handling Role.

What the role owns (aka Roles & Responsibilities)

• Leads development of ideas into concepts capable of generating broad appeal and establishing the brand with consumers in the earliest stages of its development
• Executes those ideas into a full range of products for the brand's initial stages, with the help of brand team and cross-functional teams, especially R&D and Supply Chain
• Leads the pipeline and delivery for a set of projects running in parallel at different stages, on the brands he or she owns, with the help of a team of Brand and Assistant Brand Managers
• Decides what enters the funnel, what gets prioritized and what gets stopped early, and builds the business case behind each one, including volume, pricing, investment and risk
• Works with R&D through formulation, performance testing and stability, and signs off packaging and artwork as first-time-right with Legal, Regulatory and Quality
• Doesn't govern the stage-gate process itself, but brings projects into it and makes the case, so needs to be persuasive with senior stakeholders and able to hold their ground under challenge from Finance, R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing Deploy and Sales
• May also run pilots and market tests themselves before recommending a national scale-up, and is expected to train and mentor the Brand Managers and Assistant Brand Managers working with them

What we're looking for

• Has experience of taking new products from idea to shelf more than once, and can talk candidly about not just the successes but also of the ones that failed.
• Loves to know consumers first-hand rather than through reports: someone who is regularly in homes and in the market, and expects the same of their team
• Has led communication development from brief through to work in market, and can tell good work apart from work that merely tests well
• Has the judgement to decide which ideas deserve investment, and the confidence to kill things early
• Can build and defend a full business case (volume, pricing, investment, risk), not just pitch a concept
• Has taken a product through formulation, stability and performance testing with R&D personally, not just briefed it and waited
• Has run a market pilot and used it to decide how, or whether, to scale nationally
• Has led marketers before, and can develop and mentor a bench of BMs and ABMs
• Can lead and influence cross-functional leaders across Consumer Insights (CI), R&D, Supply Chain and Finance credibly, without needing someone to translate
• Can work seamlessly with Marketing Deploy teams and Sales teams

Preferred Candidate -

• Shall have at least 3-5 of which is in NPD, innovation or product development, with hands-on involvement in formulation, packaging, consumer testing and stage-gate management.
• Personal care, beauty or FMCG experience is strongly preferred, along with experience working with vendors, labs and multi-functional teams.
• An MBA in marketing is the desired qualification, provided it comes with real product development exposure; a bachelor's in pharmacy, cosmetic science or another science, coupled with product development experience could be an added advantage

What the Role Offers -

Be a part of the 0 to 1 journey of developing a few new brands and shape what they become over the next few years. Own the innovation pipeline and communications for the brand!